Story in the College of Arts & Sciences

Joanne Martin

Lecturer, Theatre and Dance

At a glance:

Lecturer for theater department finds reward in teaching students, with no design experience, to construct costumes.

Lecturer Joanne Martin supervises the costume shop and teaches costume construction and design for the theatre and dance department at Santa Clara. She often gets to teach students something entirely new.

"My favorite thing is seeing students who've never sewn anything in their lives come in, and by the end of the class they're making something of their own design," Martin says. "It's quite wonderful."

In addition to working on the many campus productions throughout the academic year, many of the theatre and dance faculty at Santa Clara get involved with professional shows. The University is fortunate to have many great companies and venues nearby, Martin says.

"The Bay Area has a very vibrant theater scene. We have a lot of guest directors and guest artists involved with our shows, so that broadens students' horizons and gives them connections for when they graduate," Martin says.